


Bakagami

by transcrows



Series: Writeober 2019 - KNB Ficlets and Drabbles [2]
Category: Kuroko no Basuke | Kuroko's Basketball
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Learning Disabilities, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-03
Updated: 2019-10-03
Packaged: 2020-11-22 10:57:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 846
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20873066
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/transcrows/pseuds/transcrows
Summary: Writetober Day 2: MindlessKagami Taiga is not stupid, regardless of what he might think.





	Bakagami

Kagami swore under his breath when he got his exam back and looked at the grades. He’d studied until his eyes and brain hurt, even studied with Kuroko, and he’d only scored acceptable, barely scraping past a failing grade. It wasn’t that he hadn’t tried his best; ever since he’d moved back to Japan his grades had plummeted. He had a hard enough time reading English, but kanji swam in front of his eyes and seemed to reverse on him. And that was when he was able to focus. His brain rebelled against things that didn’t involve movement. 

He made a stupid mistake at practice, got too focused on the drills and didn’t hear Coach telling them to switch tasks. He was met with a basketball to the head, and Riko yelling “Oi! Bakagami! Put down the ball! We’re doing suicide sprints!” 

Bakagami. 

It wasn’t that he minded the nickname. Okay, it was. He felt stupid enough of the time, and the court was the only place where he actually felt like he belonged. He didn’t need anybody reminding him how much of an idiot he was. But hey, it was a good pun, even if it was overdone. It was funny. So he gritted his teeth and moved on. 

It didn’t help that Furihata and Koga burst into laughter when he was beaned in the head by Coach’s expert throw. He wondered how many of them secretly, or not-so-secretly, really thought he was an idiot. But he would die before ruining the fun, or admitting a weakness, so instead he gritted his teeth and went to do suicide sprints. 

He ran until Kuroko was a heap of exhaustion on the sidelines, ran until the rest of the first-years dropped out, ran until it was only him and Kiyoshi side-by-side and finally until Kiyoshi gave up. Until it was just his feet and the court and his frustration. This, at least, he could do well. 

His legs gave out and he crumpled to the floor. 

“Kagami-kun!” Kuroko yelled. He overcame his exhaustion to run across the gym to Kagami.“Are you okay?” 

“I’m fucking stupid, that’s what I am. I should’ve paid attention to my limits.” 

“You weren’t supposed to take ‘suicide sprints’ literally.” Kuroko offered a hand to help him up. “Come on, let’s hit the showers. Everyone else is already there.” 

Kagami took a little extra time in the shower because of his shaking legs. 

“You going to be good to walk home?” Kuroko asked after everyone else had cleared out of the locker room.. 

“Yeah, I’m just exhausted,” Kagami said, blushing. He would never get used to Kuroko talking to him in the shower. Especially considering Kuroko was done and drying off, and Kagami was still buck naked. 

“You know I worry about your legs ever since we played Shutoku.” 

“I’m okay, Kuroko, I promise.” Kagami tried to put on a smile, but his head was still screaming at him. _Stupid, stupid to risk hurting yourself. Stupid to not listen to Coach, stupid to almost fail your classes. Idiot. Brainless. Kuroko could never love someone mindless like you. _

“Kagami-kun? What’s wrong?” Kuroko asked. “It’s not like you to push yourself to injury. You know your body better than most anyone I know.” 

“It’s stupid,” Kagami said as he turned the shower off and grabbed for a towel. 

“It’s not stupid because you aren’t stupid, and it’s worrying you.” 

“No, see, that’s the problem. I am stupid. I can’t focus, and I can’t write in kanji to save my life. I just draw them backwards or get them all mixed up. I can’t do it, Kuroko. You know we studied our asses off for this last exam, and yet I only got an acceptable. And I mess up enough that everyone calls me Bakagami!” 

“You aren’t stupid, Kagami-kun. I think you have learning disabilities that make things hard for you.” 

“Learning disabilities?” 

“I used to tutor Murasakibara-kun and Kise-kun. Murasakibara-kun was dyslexic, and Kise-kun had ADHD. The way you describe kanji behaving sounds like what Murasakibara-kun described to me, and your attention issues remind me so much of Kise-kun sometimes. I’m sorry. I should have mentioned it earlier so you didn’t blame yourself.” 

Kagami pulled on his shirt and stared at Kuroko, cocking his head to one side. “You mean I’m not just stupid?” 

“You’re not stupid, Kagami-kun. You can remember so much about basketball, and when you can focus you learn so much.” 

“So what do I do now?” 

  
Kuroko grinned. “There are lots of tricks I learned when I was tutoring them that I can do with you. How about I go home with you and read you some articles?” 

“You’re sure I’m not stupid?” Kagami asked. 

“Only stupid for thinking you’re stupid.”

Kagami cracked a smile. “I guess I can live with that.” 

“We’ll figure out how you can learn better. I promise!”

Kuroko held out a hand for a fistbump. Kagami took a deep breath, and gave him one. 

Everything was going to be okay. Kuroko was on his side. 


End file.
